Power cut and boiler damage

powercuttroubles

Hi all - Just posting for advice if anyone can help. Our area had a power cut last week. When power was restored our boiler no longer worked. We have had a tradesman and electrician out who have repaired it and feel the damage was caused by a "power surge". I am waiting for them to send an invoice with notes explaining specifically what damage was caused. I have called the national grid on several occasions who initially said to claim it from home insurance and then said the damage to the power lines was caused by a third party so they are not liable. I w as wondering if anyone knows whether they are likely to be liable and whether there is an ombudsman that regulates them (I have googled but unsuccessfully!).
Thank you

System

powercuttroubles wrote: »

Hi all - Just posting for advice if anyone can help. Our area had a power cut last week. When power was restored our boiler no longer worked. We have had a tradesman and electrician out who have repaired it and feel the damage was caused by a "power surge". I am waiting for them to send an invoice with notes explaining specifically what damage was caused. I have called the national grid on several occasions who initially said to claim it from home insurance and then said the damage to the power lines was caused by a third party so they are not liable. I w as wondering if anyone knows whether they are likely to be liable and whether there is an ombudsman that regulates them (I have googled but unsuccessfully!).
Thank you

Having dealt with a similar situation for my late Mother, the key to getting the power provider to accept a claim (Western Power in my region) was to provide them with evidence that this was not an isolated incident. Power surges tend to affect a number of properties: if there have been other similar incidents then the burden of proof switches from the customer to the power provider. They are unlikely to respond to an isolated incident or accept liability for it.

Cardew

Agree with the above, an isolated case is unlikely to succeed.

JC_Derby

powercuttroubles wrote: »

Hi all - Just posting for advice if anyone can help. Our area had a power cut last week. When power was restored our boiler no longer worked. We have had a tradesman and electrician out who have repaired it and feel the damage was caused by a "power surge". I am waiting for them to send an invoice with notes explaining specifically what damage was caused. I have called the national grid on several occasions who initially said to claim it from home insurance and then said the damage to the power lines was caused by a third party so they are not liable. I was wondering if anyone knows whether they are likely to be liable and whether there is an ombudsman that regulates them (I have googled but unsuccessfully!).
Thank you

Seems to be an easy cop out response for tradesmen a lot of the time..
National grid are not your local electrical distributor, It is that company you need to contact, feel free to post their name on here.
Secondly when you do contact your Distributor, ask them for some details on the fault - what it was, an incident number o r reference number. DO tell them that your boiler wasn't working after the power came back on and ask them if you can claim off them.


What precisely did you google to not get an answer???
My simple "who regulates electricity companies" bought up the answer correctly straight away.